Digital twins are enabling scientific innovation
They are being used to simulate everything from bodily organs to planet Earth
SCIENTISTS ARE no strangers to computer models. Some of the very first uses of computers to simulate reality, in fact, were built by physicists keen to understand the behaviour of subatomic particles, and meteorologists hoping to predict the weather. Over the 75 or so intervening years, computer modelling has become an integral part of scientific practice, informing everything from predictions of climate change to the monitoring of pandemics.
This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “The heart of the matter”
From the August 31st 2024 edition
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His continued membership has led to a high-profile resignation
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Without trees to circulate moisture, the land is getting hotter and drier
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Scientific publishers are producing more papers than ever
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The two types of human laugh
One is caused by tickling; the other by everything else